[Leica] IMG some M8 color studies with B+W 486 filter

[davison_m at msn.com (MARK DAVISON)]

I just attended the Leica M8 seminar this weekend, and was inspired to 
recalibrate and profile my Apple Cinema display (which is unfortunately 
hooked to a Windows box), and run some M8 pictures through Capture One LE, 
using the generic Leica M8 profile.  I'm really liking the color that I'm 
getting from the M8 now, since firmware 1.092. The shots in Ballard were 
taken with firmware 1.102.

The first two shots here are from Harrison Lake BC, Canada, one of our 
favorite vacation spots. It rained a little bit much for an optimal spring 
break, but there were photographic opportunites when the rain mixed with 
light:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/MarkEDavison/M8+color+samples/L1000374.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/MarkEDavison/M8+color+samples/L1000392.jpg.html

These last four are just eclectic snapshots from my walk today in Ballard, a 
neighborhood of Seattle
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/MarkEDavison/M8+color+samples/L1000653.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/MarkEDavison/M8+color+samples/L1000664.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/MarkEDavison/M8+color+samples/L1000667.jpg.html
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/MarkEDavison/M8+color+samples/L1000672.jpg.html

I have learned some things I didn't want to know about color management on 
Windows XP this weekend (the seminar demonstrated color management on a 
Macintosh which works in a very straightforward and reliable fashion).

The bad news is that many color profiling systems (like the popular 
GretagMacbeth Eye One system)create a profile that depends on having a 
particular custom color lookup table (LUT) correctly loaded into your video 
card.  The problem is that Windows XP does not handle loading the LUT 
automatically--you depend on third-party software to load the LUT.  If you 
have Adobe Gamma on your system, it may be loading its own LUT as well. 
Whichever application loads the last LUT determines which LUT is the 
graphics card.  The workaround I found was to download Microsoft Color 
Control Panel applet, and following its instructions, set up my Startup so 
that the applet loads the correct LUT, and there are no other applets 
loading LUTs.  Now my color is reliable, and it's actually fun to edit 
color.

(To add to Windows users' misery, some graphics cards lose their custom LUT 
if the system wakes up from Standby, and some graphics cards flush the 
custom LUT if you bring up the Color tab in the graphics card's Preferences 
dialog box.  You can use the Color Control Panel applet to reload your 
custom LUT if this happens.)

To paraphrase something that Don Imus might have said:  "Windows has too 
many loose LUTs."

One other thing I noticed--the only correctly color managed apps I have on 
my Windows box are Photoshop and Capture One LE.  There are situations when 
Internet Explorer and Windows Fax and Picture Viewer do not display correct 
colors (even from sRGB files.) I saw this when experimenting with monitor 
profiles which had a white point set other than the native white point of 
the display.

On the Mac with OS X all the apps I tested correctly honor the current 
monitor profile, and the LUT is never disturbed.


Mark Davison